Chillin' on Presidents Day

It's been a slow road to recovery, but I think we're almost there.

We had a good weekend with my parents, in large part due to their graciousness at arriving to partially healthy hosts in a barely clean house, as well as frequent administrations of Motrin. Seriously, I need to buy stock in that company. Take one feverish, whiny child and add two teaspoons of dye-free berry-flavoured magic and voila! 20 minutes later the child is transformed.

Our transformed children allowed us to enjoy what have become our standard guest-related activities: seeing the neighbourhood sights, IKEA and (of course) the Mall of America. We also got to show my parents where we work and bring them to church with us.

They left this morning and the kids and I hung out. Well, they hung out: I was busy doing housecleaning and laundry, which means that *now* my house is actually ready for guests (10 hours after they left)! The Girl had a friend from school over for a playdate, so it was a fun stay-home day for them.

I don't know if it's the return to health, the return to routine, or just the end of such a nice weekend, but I'm feeling particularly grateful today. Here's my list of things I'm thankful for today:

- My cozy, snug house. Especially when it's nice and clean.

- My kids. Smarter, snugglier, sweeter babies you will not find.

- My family. It's nice to know we are loved from afar.

- Our new church. I got a call today from another mom to apologize that her son may have sent home some strep germs after playing with the kids yesterday. It makes me happy that someone I've just met cares enough about us to make that call.

- My job. As tough as it is to have everything be new all the time, it promises fulfillment and allows me to pay for...

- The kids' school. We found out this weekend we didn't get into the free school (unless, of course, the 135 other children ahead of us on the waiting list suddenly move to Kansas), but we have two spots at their current school, which is a place where they are quite happy. Their education is also having some effect, as The Girl was talking in her sleep the other night and yelling at her brother in two languages.

- My husband. Even though I won't see him much over the next two weeks as he does some major travelling, I know he'll be missing us.

- Good health. Every time I'm sick, I think of people with chronic illnesses. I'm incapacitated by a mild fever, so I marvel at their fortitude while I breathe a "thank you Jesus" when my body stops aching and I feel like eating again.